Operation: Roselein
1020hrs. 15 April 1995
Arlon
The next mission briefing was earlier than before, but I wasn't even close to annoyed. It was nowhere near early enough that I had to drag myself out of bed earlier than usual. In fact, I was pretty grateful for it. The past few days had been boring as hell. I mean, come on! We've literally spent the last week on patrols!
Still, it didn't mean that Cipher and I weren't late for briefing. It was all his fault. He'd deny it, but he's the one who decided to stay up late sketching and then woke up late as a result.
That bastard would get me killed if the look the Base Commander gave us was any indication.
"We must regain control over Route 171, which runs through Arlon, to secure a transit route for our ground troops," the Commander said to begin the briefing. At the same time, the projector turned on, displaying an area that I suspected was Arlon. Right through it was a route; Route 171. "There are bridges along this route, three over the Aare River. All heavily guarded by the Belkan Armored Corps."
No kidding, Commander. I could already see all the tanks from the surveillance photos displayed. There's a whole bunch of 'em. The tanks I knew I could handle. The SAMs... Those little bastards were created to make the lives of us pilots a literal living hell. Try and take a guess how I feel about it.
"Securing this route is critical to Ustio's attack on the Belkan Forces." No shit. After all, if you can't cut his head off, might as well choke the monster 'till he die. "Destroy the Belkan ground units blocking passage along this route and secure this supply line between our forces and the Osean Army."
Did he just say Osean Army?
Maybe the so-called Allied Forces are really happening?
I couldn't think long because the rest of the fighter pilots were already gone to the hangar to get in their planes. Only Cipher waited for me.
As I walked to him, he grinned. "Must've been an important mission to make you space out thinking on it like that."
I punched him in the arm lightly, grinning right back. "Asshole. I was just wondering about the Allied Forces."
Cipher frowned. "Allied Forces? What do they have to do with this mission?"
"Osean Army, ya nitwit."
"Still don't see the connection."
I glared at him. He couldn't be that oblivious. "Whenever there are two armies working together, like us and the Osean in this mission, it's called an Allied Force."
"I get that. But the Oseans aren't actually fighting right now. For all we know, we're just securing them a route so that they can freely come in and out to buy Ustio's butterbeer or something."
He's hopeless, and I've given up. Not caring about what my weird flight lead is doing anymore, I climbed into my airplane and hopped in, strapping the helmet on while mentally running down the check procedures. "Galm 2 ready to go," I said once I've finished. The hangar doors had already opened up and I was already rolling out of the hangar, right behind Cipher. "Permission to take off?"
"Permission granted," came the reply from Base Command. "Galm 1, you are cleared for takeoff."
"10-4, Base Command," Cipher acknowledged. His plane took off less than a minute later.
"Galm 2, you are cleared for takeoff."
"Roger that."
Takeoff is always amazing, no matter how many times you do it. You feel like you're suddenly free; free of the ground and free to roam the sky as you please. Or in our case, to rain hell to the enemies.
"Galm 1 and 2, altitude restrictions canceled. Return to your mission. Good luck."
And that's our cue.
_X_
Arlon, I decided, is a beautiful place.
The green fields. The trees. The windmills.
It's almost like what I imagine a dream home would be like.
Too bad that the war's going to change it like it did to so many other places.
"This is AWACS Eagle Eye to Galm." Huh? I didn't know we had an AWACS with us... I looked up, and there he was. High, high up above us was an E-3 Sentry. "The target is in formation along the highway. Commence the operation."
"Keep an eye on us up there, AWACS," I spoke through the radio. I didn't want any of us to crash and the rest to not know about it. We've got to keep an eye on each other's backs.
There was a laugh over the radio. "More specifically, keep an eye on Mr. Solo Wing." Cipher. "Don't want him turning to No Wing Pixy."
My protests were unfortunately drowned out by Rowdy's (of course it was Rowdy) laughter. "Whoa. Shots fired."
"Will do, Galm 1," AWACS replied, also laughing. I couldn't believe that everyone was ganging up against me.
And to think that what I did was considered impossible. Only pilot to pull that off in history, and I still got shit for it. "At least I didn't crash, did I?"
"Nope," Cipher laughed. "But you're just crazy enough to even think of landing an Eagle with one wing."
"You would too, y'know? These planes are expensive. You'd go broke buying one of these."
"That's why it's better to sneak into the enemy base and steal one of theirs."
"Whoa!" Scarlet shouted. "Someone's got their morality askew." The sound of her voice was a bit laden with static. It wasn't really a surprise considering that the Halo Squadron is running a bit late. No surprise there.
"All's fair in love and war and all that," Cipher shot back.
I grinned. "Hey, my idea worked. I got my plane back and I didn't need to sacrifice my morality."
"Like you actually have one of those."
"Well, what I have seems to be more than what you really h-"
"Cut it out, you two," Eagle Eye interjected. His interruption brought me back to the route in front of us. Damn, I hadn't realized that it was already so close. Ten more seconds and we'd probably blown past it. "Belkan ground forces are blocking off our transport route. Destroy them all."
From the corner of my eye, I saw Cipher speeding ahead of me, flying right above Route 171. "Roger that, Eagle Eye. Galm 1, engaging."
Within no time, Cipher was far ahead of me. It would take a lot of speed for me to catch up. By then, he had probably destroyed half the targets there. The kid's wicked like that. "Galm 2, engaging."
Through the static of the radio, I heard Robin's voice break through. "Halo Squad, show those Belkan fighters what we're made of."
"Fox 2! Fox 2!"
Seemed like they got tangled with a couple of fighters. But at least they were finally somewhere near Arlon. "Oh, look who's finally here. Did your carriage break down on the way, princess?"
"Shut it, Galm 2." Lance. He sounded really grumpy.
"I suggest you do what Lance said, Pixy." Scarlet. Always the peacekeeper. When she's not in prankster mode, that is. "He's in a fucked up mood right now."
"Language," Robin reminded her. As if he wasn't enough of an old geezer, he had to act like one, too.
An AA gun came into view. With my gun, I finished it off quickly, not bothering to report the kill. One, it's just an AA gun. Two, Halo Squadron's rambles is too much fun; it'd be a shame to interrupt them. Three, I'm a mercenary. I don't have to follow the rules word by word all the time.
Rowdy laughed. "Yeah, Scarlet. Language. I thought you're supposed to be the polite lady here."
"Stop stereotyping everyone," Scarlet admonished. "Fox 2!" A pause. "Bagged 'em."
Good ol' Scarlet. Never misses her targets. Speaking of targets... There was an APC right in front of me just begging for me to kill it. Naturally, I did. "Dropping. ... Right on target."
I was just about to demolish a tank when an unfamiliar voice came through the radio. "Did those fighters come here from Ustio?" I couldn't recognize it. The accent was Belkan, but why were they speaking English?
"Was that the enemy?" Logically, it would be them, seeing that I hadn't spoken and none of my teammates were Belkan.
"Who else would it be?" Cipher answered. I looked to where he was flying. He was far ahead of me, and currently engaging in a dogfight with a Belkan fighter. He looked like he was winning, so I didn't bother to help him. Why should I? The kid practically held his ground against seven fighters while running to Ustio. He'll be just fine.
"It could be Lance," Rowdy offered. I didn't think Lance would appreciate whatever Rowdy would say next, because usually it wasn't nice, but I didn't comment. "He had his moments."
Just as I suspected, Lance reacted none too kindly. "HEY! Fuck you, Rowdy."
"LANGUAGE!"
"They must be in a desperate situation." It was the enemy. How in hell could we hear each other like this? Strategies would be revealed all over the frequency to all sides if this was the case. "But there's no way we're giving up this place."
"'They must be in a desperate situation,'" Scarlet quoted. "They must've thought we're crazy after hearing our radio chatter."
Rowdy laughed. "Seems so, babe."
Uh-oh. Bad move, Rowdy...
"Scarlet. Rowdy." Robin didn't sound pleased at all. In fact, he sounded just like a drill sergeant about to explode. Key word there; about to. "Is there something I should know?"
"Uh... No, sir!" Judging from Rowdy's tone of voice, I bet that he must've realized this, too. "There's nothing going on here, Captain, sir!"
"Hey, if we can hear them, they should be able to hear us, right?" I frowned. I couldn't see why Cipher would change the subject so suddenly like that. There's no connection between Rowdy and Scarlet probably in a relationship with the fact that the Belkans can-
Oh.
He's trying to distract Robin from going all wrath-of-God mode. "Cipher, don't you dare change the sub-"
"I dunno, Cipher." Considering he's my flight lead, I might as well get on with the program. Hopefully by the end of the day, Robin wouldn't remember this and try to get back at us all. "Why do you ask?"
"We can piss them off. Big time." Of course my flight lead would think of something that crazy.
"So you'd go ahead and give them more reason to kill you?" Lance sounded incredulous, and I couldn't blame him.
Rowdy laughed. It sounded strained, but still believable. "I know you're still a rookie, and you're from Nostrand, but don't you think that's a bit suicidal, even by your crazy standards?"
"Why not? It's fun."
I laughed. Fun, he said. I knew exactly one thing in this mission that can make things absolutely nowhere near fun. "I'll believe it when you say that with a SAM locked onto you."
"You'll hear it. Twice."
"Don't get cocky, buddy."
"Said the cockiest man alive."
"Pixy, Cipher!" Uh-oh. It's Eagle Eye. "Knock it off and focus!"
Cipher still laughed, which wasn't that surprising. Everyone knew how suicidal he was. Only he would laugh while being threatened by an AWACS, which, in comparison, was about ten times worse than Robin when they're berserk.
"Halo Squad, are they usually like this?"
Rowdy snickered. "No, sir. Usually, it's way worse."
"Last time," Lance said, "they almost started a food fight in the mess."
I felt my face heating up at that. I could still remember the incident. I almost hit Scarlet with a sandwich before Commander Ovechkin walked in. "It was just one time, fellas! Geez. What happened to 'forgive and forget'?"
"Hey!" Cipher protested. "I had NO part in that! It was all Pixy!"
"All I have to say is this. They're both crazy." Oh, that's IT, Rowdy. I'd make damn sure that you'd get yourself a plateful of pranks tomorrow. Or after this mission is over. I guarantee it.
"Perfect pair, huh? Duly noted, Halo Squad."
Dang. Now even our AWACS thinks we're crazy. Bound to happen, I guess.
A pair of AA guns came into my sight. While they weren't as deadly as SAMs, they're still little pesky bastards that won't stop at anything to destroy us. So it'd make sense if we return the sentiment. "Dropping, dropping." A couple of bombs, and the AA guns were no more. "Target hit."
"Hold them off! Don't let them get this place!" Ah, those arrogant Belkans. Apparently they haven't heard of Galm Team and the Halo Squadron. Even if we lose, we still take a lot of those guys down with us.
"This route is Ustio's lifeline. I'll get it back."
"WE will get it back," Cipher said. I looked to where I thought he would be, but he was no longer in front of me. I looked at the radar. Somehow, he'd gotten himself somewhere behind me, apparently circling around a Belkan tank that wouldn't blow up. "There's no way I'm letting you get all those targets."
Rookies. All bark and no bite. "Really? Catch up if you can, rook."
"I'm trying! You're so damn fast, y'know that?"
Two APCs ahead of me. No big deal. Nothing a bomb wouldn't fix. "Just like I destroyed those two APCs over there?"
"There!" Cipher shouted. I looked back again. That tank was finally destroyed. "Take that, sucker!"
"Tank destroyed," Eagle Eye said. "Keep it up, everyone."
At long last, Cipher overtook me and got ahead of me. I took a quick glance at his ammo, and what I saw shocked me. Cipher had already used four of his eight bombs, and yet he'd only destroyed so few targets. Was he that bad a shot? Looking at how he just missed an AA gun by a big deal, I think that was the case.
"I hate ground targets," he grumbled.
"Try again." I watched him turn around, taking another shot at the AA gun. Yet again, he missed. Another bomb wasted. Even the rookie mercenaries I knew of weren't this bad. Unless... "Did you finish your ground attack training?"
No answer.
"God help us all," I muttered. I looked at the radar. There were quite a flock of Belkan fighters heading our way. They'd trouble us in no time if no one dealt with them. "Cipher, just focus on the air targets. There's a couple heading our way from the North. I'll handle the ground."
"Roger that, Pixy."
"Eagle Eye, can you give Cipher directions to the fighters? Don't want him getting lost."
There was a laugh from the AWACS and a muttered "Fuck you" from Cipher. "I got it covered," Eagle Eye said. "Galm 1, head to 2-7-0. There's a flight of three aircraft - probably MiG-21s - heading our way from that direction."
"10-4, Eagle Eye."
With the rookie taken care of, I focused back on the targets that I still have waiting to be destroyed. A couple of AA guns here, a tank there, and-
"Warning, enemy plane overhead!"
Did the Belkans really just realized we're here now? I thought they were faster. I remembered that they were faster when I enlisted in the Academy before I dropped out with Blackhawk.
What changed?